Technology adoption has been advocated as an important way to improve agricultural productivity and welfare of farmers in the semi-arid regions across the globe. The Government of Karnataka implemented the Bhoosamrudhi program in four districts of the state (Bidar, Chikballapur, Dharwad, and Udupi) as a pilot project to increase the crop yield and income of smallholder farmers. This program was launched on the theme of technology adoption along with convergence among different departments of agriculture. Farmers have been classified into five categories based on their levels of technology intensification to assess the impact of different levels of technology intensification on their welfare. The research is built on a primary survey conducted in pilot districts of the state in 2018 over a sample of 1,465 farmer households. The results generated using econometric methods of propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability weighted with regression adjustment (IPWRA) highlight that the higher the intensification, the higher the net returns to the farmers. The results state that non-adopters would receive a benefit of an additional Rs.3200 per month if they adopt at least one level of technology intensification. Hence, this program turned out to be a successful model for smallholder farmers in semi-arid regions of India. Steps should be taken to maintain and expand the momentum of adoption to ensure food and livelihood security in the economy.

South Asia is primarily an agrarian economy facing the five transitions of population growth, urbanization, increasing income, shift toward animal-based food, and climate change simultaneously. In the process of ensuring food sufficiency under the intertwined challenges posed by these ongoing transitions, the boundaries of natural resources have been violated with adverse impacts on the health of the ecosystem. The application of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is viewed as an important strategy for imparting resilience to the food system in addressing the interconnected issues of food security through improved productivity and adaptation to and mitigation of the impacts of climate change. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) South Asia, in collaboration with its national partners, charted out and pursued studies for the policy and institutions required in upscaling CSA for the extensive South Asia region taking these broad CSA objectives in consideration. The important subthemes of this report include prioritization of CSA technologies for different agroclimatic regions, government policies for CSA, index-based insurance and climate risk management, and climate-smart investment and its implications on food security and farmers’ income.

The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture is FAO's first flagship publication on the global status of land and water resources. It is an 'advocacy' report, to be published every three to five years, and targeted at senior level decision makers in agriculture as well as in other sectors. SOLAW is aimed at sensitizing its target audience on the status of land resources at global and regional levels and FAO's viewpoint on appropriate recommendations for policy formulation. SOLAW focuses on these key dimensions of analysis: (i) quantity, quality of land and water resources, (ii) the rate of use and sustainable management of these resources in the context of relevant socio-economic driving factors and concerns, including food security and poverty, and climate change. This is the first time that a global, baseline status report on land and water resources has been made. It is based on several global spatial databases (e.g. land suitability for agriculture, land use and management, land and water degradation and depletion) for which FAO is the world-recognized data source. Topical and emerging issues on land and water are dealt with in an integrated rather than sectoral manner. The implications of the status and trends are used to advocate remedial interventions which are tailored to major farming systems within different geographic regions.

This book documents frontier knowledge on the drivers of agriculture productivity to derive pragmatic policy advice for governments and development partners on reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The analysis describes global trends and long-term sources of total factor productivity growth, along with broad trends in partial factor productivity for land and labor, revisiting the question of scale economies in farming. Technology is central to growth in agricultural productivity, yet across many parts of the developing world, readily available technology is never taken up. We investigate demand-side constraints of the technology equation to analyze factors that might influence producers, particularly poor producers, to adopt modern technology. Agriculture and food systems are rapidly transforming, characterized by shifting food preferences, the rise and growing sophistication of value chains, the increasing globalization of agriculture, and the expanding role of the public and private sectors in bringing about efficient and more rapid productivity growth. In light of this transformation, the analysis focuses on the supply side of the technology equation, exploring how the enabling environment and regulations related to trade and intellectual property rights stimulate Research and Development to raise productivity. The book also discusses emerging developments in modern value chains that contribute to rising productivity. This book is the fourth volume of the World Bank Productivity Project, which seeks to bring frontier thinking on the measurement and determinants of productivity to global policy makers.

Good agroecological practices are indispensable for the development of sustainable agriculture. In this book, principles, diversity and applications of agroecological practices for a range of systems are presented, transforming scientific research and participatory knowledge of production into practical application. It illustrates a broad range of research and teaching being used within the farming community to demonstrate best practice and current state-of-play within the field. Agroecological methods used in crop farming, grass-based livestock farming, fish production, and other complex farming systems are discussed. Conclusions are drawn from studies to provide an outlook on future trends of agroecological practices and on policies supporting implementation.Due to emphasis on real-life application, it is relevant not only to students of the agricultural sciences and public policy, but also to researchers, stakeholders and policy makers involved in the development of sustainable agriculture.

To feed a world population that will exceed 9 billion by 2050 requires an estimated 60% increase over current primary agricultural productivity. Closing the common and often large gap between actual and attainable crop yield is critical to achieve this goal. To close yield gaps in both small and large scale cropping systems worldwide we need (1) definitions and techniques to measure and model yield at different levels (actual, attainable, potential) and different scales in space (field, farm, region, global) and time (short and long term); (2) identification of the causes of gaps between yield levels; (3) management options to reduce the gaps where feasible and (4) policies to favour adoption of sustainable gap-closing solutions. The aim of this publication is to critically review the methods for yield gap analysis, hence addressing primarily the first of these four requirements, reporting a wide-ranging and well-referenced analysis of literature on current methods to assess productivity of crops and cropping systems.